97 Century- Shift Lever is hard to move out of Park

[ranjon]

I have a column mounted shifter. It is VERY hard to move out of Park. It's not so bad moving from Reverse to Drive, and Drive to Reverse, although it's still hard. But moving it out of Park is very hard. If I want to shift into Reverse I have to jerk it into another gear, then back into Reverse. I only jerk it into another gear because Park is right next to Reverse and it's almost impossible to just slide it into Reverse from Park. Do I need some WD-40 or what?? Any ideas? I hope it's something simple.

[Tech II]

Two things:

Absolutely must apply brake BEFORE attempting to shift out of Park....

When parking on a hill, must apply footbrake and ebrake, BEFORE shifting into park......start car, apply footbrake, shift out of Park, then release ebrake and then travel down/up the hill.....

If neither correct your problem: Park on level ground.....apply ebrake.....shut car off.....pop the hood.....disconnect the shifter cable from the linkage on top of the tranny(pops off).....apply footbrake......turn key to on, don't crank....now shift out of gear......if it shifts easily, the problem is the manual valve in the tranny......